EDB to make Singapore a living lab for urban solutions

It will set aside $100m to develop urban solutions here
Teh Shi Ning Business Times 21 Jun 10;

(SINGAPORE) The Economic Development Board (EDB) has sharpened its strategy to make Singapore a 'living lab' for urban solutions.

With $100 million set aside for EDB to facilitate private and public sector tie-ups to test-bed new clean energy, urban mobility, IT and public safety systems, the agency hopes companies will move quickly to gain a global edge with locally-developed urban solutions.

'We are creating businesses for the future, going after a market that may not be big now but is likely to grow very large globally,' EDB deputy managing director Tan Choon Shian told BT in an interview last week. This urban solutions strategy is to ensure Singapore rides the 'global megatrend' of rapid urbanisation, Mr Tan says, laying it out in three stages.

First, identifying 'lead demand' - a challenge Singapore faces, such as a dependable supply of water. 'This gives us more impetus to drive technology forward, get companies to take risks, figure out how to make technology work for the lead users here,' says Mr Tan.

Which leads to stage two, creating test-beds and inviting companies on board. 'We don't have a monopoly on good ideas, so we need companies, foreign or local, large or small, to come in and help co-create solutions,' he says. Solving the myriad problems of urban living and working 'used to be entirely the domain of governments, but we need companies to take risks, innovate, experiment, for us to gain that edge', says Mr Tan.

And he hopes these companies, 'with a track record of working with the Singapore public sector, reputed for efficiency, for prudence, can then scale up their businesses abroad'. This is in fact stage three - bringing Singapore-developed urban solutions into growing cities worldwide.

It is still 'early days', Mr Tan says, but some success has been seen in the area of water. Need-driven innovation led to national water agency PUB, Hyflux and Black & Veatch's collaboration on the SingSpring desalination plant, which has been in operation for close to five years. That experience has already been exported, with Hyflux having built desalination plants in Algeria, Oman and China.

More recently, EDB has helped coordinate the test-bedding of solar panels on the rooftops of HDB blocks in 30 precincts.

Electric vehicle testing, on track for launch by year-end, will help companies and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) figure out how best to run electric charging stations, pricing and other technical issues. EMA also got IBM, Accenture, Logica and Siemens to drive a consortium to roll out the first smart grid to make energy cheaper and more efficient, which could potentially be used for Singapore's main power grid.

And there are plenty of opportunities on larger-scale projects, both residential, such as HDB's Punggol eco-town plans, and business-focused, such as the upcoming CleanTech Park, says Mr Tan.

While it is usually foreign players who first bring in existing technology - solar modules, water membranes, electric vehicles - local firms can and should step in to design systems for urban use, he says. Specifically, they could find a niche in tropical urban uses, since most technologies are still made for use in temperate climates.

This could mean linking up with larger local players which have led consortiums on various test-beds, such as Sembcorp and ST Engineering. Or spotting niche urban needs, designing systems for wider application, and seeking out the relevant public agencies, he says.

Enterprises currently on these test-beds see long-term gains too. SolarGy installed solar panels and designed integrated systems for the Tampines and Marine Parade test-bed precincts. 'The main reason we made much effort to get this job was for the learning experience,' said its managing director Albert Lim. 'Installing solar panels on existing buildings is very challenging.'

SolarGy, a three-year-old firm, has won installation contracts from Universal Studios at Resorts World Sentosa and Keppel Land's Ocean Financial Centre, and Mr Lim thinks the HDB testbed will prepare it for a wider roll-out of solar systems across Singapore and boost its plans to enter Thailand and Philippines.

Similarly, Bernard Goh, general manager of Asiatic Engineering, said its long-term plan is to be a leading solar system integrator, 'not just in Singapore, but in the region'.

Said Mr Goh: 'Opportunities to apply and install various types of solar panels would become valuable experiences for local enterprises.'